Luke McShane

Ding Liren from China has become the 17th world champion, defeating the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana. The 14-game classical match saw triumph and tragedy on both sides, with six decisive games. But with honours shared at 7-7, the classical world championship was to be decided in a four-game rapid tiebreak, just as it was in 2006, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The first three were drawn, and the fourth game looked bound for the same result, which would have led to a play-off at even faster time limits. But with both players down to their last minutes, Ding took an unexpected decision to prolong the fight instead of acceding to a draw.

This year’s Reykjavik Open attracted a record turnout of more than 400 players. The Icelanders’ affinity for chess is well established, and the Harpa Conference Centre is a beautiful playing hall looking over the waterfront. At the top of the seedings was Ukrainian luminary Vasyl Ivanchuk, but first place went to the affable Swedish grandmaster Nils Grandelius. He took the lead in the penultimate round. Abhijeet Gupta-Nils GrandeliusReykjavik Open, April 2023 53…Kf4 is tempting, but 54 Nb7 e4 55 Nc5 Bf5 56 Nxe4! secures a draw as the bishop can never force White’s king out from the a1-corner. In what follows, the sacrifice of knight for e-pawn is carefully avoided. 53…Bd5!

As I write, six of 14 games of the world championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have been played in Astana, Kazakhstan, with the score tied 3-3. By the time you read this, events will have moved on, so any prognosis would be futile. One ought, so to speak, to wait until the bread has risen. But the games in Astana have been so compelling that a quick peek is irresistible. Four out of six have been decisive – an extraordinary volume of bloodshed by the standards of recent world championships. Initially, Ding looked listless, as if overwhelmed by the occasion. ‘Nepo’ won game two, but by game four Ding had pulled himself together, when an elegant exchange sacrifice helped level the score. Nepomniachtchi looks stronger since his defeat against Carlsen in Dubai.

Is chess a sport? Naively, I once considered that to be a philosophical question. Physical strength or dexterity – nope. Feeling of exertion and elevated heart rate – yes, at least if you’re doing it with soul. Global competition and recognition – yes, emphatically. It was no accident that Louis Vuitton’s ad campaign last year pictured Messi and Ronaldo playing chess. A better question would be ‘Does chess deserve government funding?’ For a game with obvious cognitive, educational and cultural benefits, the answer ought to be an unequivocal yes, and in a great many countries, including within western Europe, the game does indeed receive meaningful government support. Alas, in the UK chess is left to fend for itself.

The forthcoming world championship match, which begins in Astana on 9 April, was described by Garry Kasparov as an ‘amputated event’. The abdication of Magnus Carlsen, who remains the world’s strongest player, is of course a disappointment. But the 14 game match between the world number 2 and 3, respectively Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russian and Ding Liren from China, remains a gripping prospect. Nepomniachtchi is the more aggressive and ambitious player, but his results are more volatile. In an interview in January, Carlsen stated that he considers Ding Liren to be ‘a little bit better’. In my view, Ding stands out for his capacity to endure tension for longer than his opponents, a quality which manifests in subtle ways.

An uncharacteristic blunder from Wesley So handed tournament victory to Hikaru Nakamura at the American Cup, which finished at the St Louis Chess Club last weekend. The event was held with an unusual ‘double elimination knockout’ format, in which players who lost a match would continue playing in the ‘elimination bracket’, and only a second loss would see them exit the tournament. Nakamura won their first encounter, which shunted So into the elimination bracket. But since So triumphed in the elimination bracket, he was resurrected to face Nakamura in the final, where he took his revenge. Each player having lost one match, they were left to fight it out one more time.

In the world of chess politics, the map has been redrawn. Russia is now officially in Asia, and no longer in Europe. The move was formalised at the end of February, when the Asian Chess Federation voted to admit the Russian Chess Federation by an overwhelming margin. Russia’s pivot to Asia was in the pipeline for some time, since the European Chess Union (ECU) suspended the federations of Russia and Belarus just a couple of weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. The international federation Fide followed suit soon after, so those teams were absent from the Fide Olympiad in Chennai last year. In Europe, the impact was lessened by the fact that the ECU’s biennial European Team Championship, is not due until November 2023 in Montenegro.

The great tradition of the Varsity match rolls on, ringing in the 141st edition earlier this month at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London. Oxford were slight favourites, but the match finished on a knife edge. The game on board 2 was particularly hard-fought, with both sides having winning chances at different stages. This diagram shows the position after the advance 56 f4-f5, with Jan Petr (Cambridge) playing White. Striving to win the game, he has advanced his pawn to f5 instead of capturing the pawn on d3 (which led to a straightforward draw). Jan Petr (Cambridge)-Emil Powierski (Oxford) Varsity Chess Match, March 2023(See left diagram) White’s move would be justified by 56…a3 57 fxe6 a2 58 e7 a1=Q 59 e8=Q, with an easy win with the extra knight.

‘The greatest pleasure? When you break his ego.’ So said Bobby Fischer on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. He was right, of course – experienced players can sense that moment of mental despair in the opponent, which may arrive well before the outstretched hand of resignation. In fact, getting an accurate read on the opponent’s mood can be valuable at any stage of the game. Body language clues are the most obvious, but there’s plenty to be gleaned from the moves alone. Perhaps the game reaches an obvious junction, where the opponent can choose between a safe, solid option, and something more adventurous. The choice itself speaks volumes, and the time spent on the decision can be no less significant.

Can ChatGPT play chess? A few weeks ago, when the AI chatbot was making headlines, someone had the cute idea of getting it to play a game against the popular chess engine Stockfish. At the start, it followed a standard line of the Ruy Lopez opening. But soon the illegal moves began – ChatGPT tried to castle before its bishop was out of the way. Later, it added pieces to the board from nowhere, queens jumped over knights, and rooks teleported magically around the board. I repeated this experiment myself, with similar phantasmagorical results, all while the bot supplied nonsensical explanations for its moves. Indeed, ChatGPT cannot play chess, and it was fun to watch its collapsing facade of cogency. Teehee, silly computer!